s saith
Isaiah, Thus saith Jeremiah.

No biblical writer shows any consciousness of such supernatural influences
upon him in his work as insured its infallibility. Nearly all these
authors begin and end their books without any reference to themselves or
their work. The writer of the Gospel according to Luke thus prefaces his
book:

"Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning
those matters which have been fulfilled among us, even as they
delivered them unto us which from the beginning were eye-witnesses and
ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having traced the
course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in
order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty
concerning the things which thou wast taught by word of mouth."

This is the only personal preface to any of the Gospels, and it is
thoroughly human. There is not even such an invocation as introduces
Milton's great poem.

These writers at times, after the fashion of the older prophets, affirm
that they speak with divine authority; but they also as expressly disclaim
such authority in other places. St. Paul is sure, in one matter referred
to him, of the mind of God, and writes:

"Unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord," etc.[2]

Immediately after he writes, as having no such assurance:

"To the rest speak I, not the Lord."[3]

Later on in the same letter he is so uncertain as to add to his judgment:

"And I think also that I have the spirit of God."[4]

Again, in the same connection, being conscious of no divine authorization,
he gives his own opinion as such:

"Now, concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give
my judgment."[5]

Eighteen hundred years after he wrote, men insist that they know more
about St. Paul's inspirations than he did himself. Against his modest,
cautious discriminations, our doctors set up their theory of the Bible,
clothe all his utterances with the divine authority, and honor him with an
infallibility which he explicitly disclaims.

The New Testament writers use language which seems, to our
theory-spectacled eyes, to ascribe an infallible inspiration to the Old
Testament books. But the words have no such weight. The Epistle to the
Hebrews opens with the words:

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets," etc.[6]